The present invention relates generally to a fastening device, and in particular to a fastening device for quickly and readily securing side panels of a cabinet.
A display cabinet comprises a frame made up of vertical columns and horizontal bars between which panels, made of glass or other materials, are fixed. Some of the conventional cabinets are designed to allow general consumers to assemble the cabinet by themselves. In other words, the cabinets are xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselvesxe2x80x9d designs. Such xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselvesxe2x80x9d design must be of no sophisticated configuration in order to allow the assembly of the cabinet parts to be readily carried out by the general consumers. However, the simple configuration sacrifices the mechanical stability of the cabinets. In other words, the cabinets of the xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselvesxe2x80x9d usually do not have a sound structure and may easily collapse, causing damage to the general consumers.
It is thus desired to have a fastening device that allows quick and ready assembly of the xe2x80x9cdo-it-yourselvesxe2x80x9d cabinet without sacrificing the mechanical stability thereof.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fastening device for stably securing panels of a cabinet whereby the cabinet can be assembled quickly and readily without sacrificing mechanical stability thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fastening device for quickly, readily and stably securing panels of a cabinet to a frame of the cabinet, the fastening device also serving to support partition boards of the cabinet whereby the assembly of the cabinet is simplified.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a fastening device for securing panels and inside partition boards to a frame of a case or a cabinet for simplifying the assembly operation of the case or cabinet.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a fastening device that secures panels of a cabinet in angles rather than 90 degrees thereby forming a hexagon or other multiple lateral side cabinet.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a fastening device comprising two side boards attached to each other with an included angle therebetween and two securing members respectively and pivotally mounted to the side boards with a space formed between each securing member and the associated side board for accommodating a panel therebetween. A nut is rotatably fixed to the boards and linearly movable with respect to the boards whereby the nut is engageable with an edge protrusion of each securing member when subject to the linear movement. A bolt threadingly engages the nut. When the bolt is turned, the nut is linearly moved with respect to the side boards and forcibly drives the securing members to rotate with respect to the boards and thus securing the panels between the securing members and the side boards. The included angle can be any angle, such as 90 degrees and 120 degrees. The bolt has an expanded end extending into a cabinet formed with the fastening device for supporting a partition board of the cabinet.